Tragedy as healthy dad-of-three, 37, dies from flu

Mate Babic, from Canberra, has died after contracting influenza B. He leaves behind his wife Carla and their three sons, Luka, 3, Sebastian, 6, and Marko, 7.

A healthy dad-of-three has died suddenly from flu aged just 37.

Mate Babic, who lived in Canberra, leaves behind his wife Carla and their three sons, Luka, 3, Sebastian, 6, and Marko, 7.

Carla told Daily Mail Australia that she contracted the virus last week and Mate started feeling unwell last Friday.

By Tuesday, he was so unwell that he made a Telehealth appointment with the GP but they told him he would need to be assessed in person.

Carla arranged for an appointment the next day and Mate went to stay in his parents’ apartment to get some rest.

Mate Babic, from Canberra, unexpectedly passed away in the early hours of Wednesday morning after contracting influenza B.

Mr Babic leaves behind wife Carla and their three sons, Marko, 7, Luka, 3, and Sebastian, 6.

He had a horror night of fever and sweats before running himself a bath.

While the water was running, he walked over to the bed where he died in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

“It is just an absolute tragedy, I just don’t even know what to do. It doesn’t even seem real,” Carla said.

“From Saturday morning where he was slightly unwell to Wednesday morning and he is gone.

“His parents got woken up to their place flooded and their son dead.”

Carla and the Babics’ three children now face an uncertain future as she will be forced to sell their home, which Mate was in the process of building.

Mate also did not have any life insurance and next to no superannuation as he spent most of his career working for himself and didn’t pay himself super.

“It is crazy a six-foot-four, healthy man could pass away from influenza B, it is like we are living in the 18th century, it is like the plague,” Carla said.

A GoFundMe page has been set up by friends to support the Babics as the family try to get their lives together following their tragic loss.

Australia is currently in the grip of a horror flu season which has so far claimed at least 107 lives.

Emma Schwab, 11, from Noosa on the Sunshine Coast, died last Thursday after contracting influenza B.